Holding a regular meeting Monday evening at City Hall, the Levelland City Council moved forward approving several action items.
Mayor Barbra Pinner began the meeting by issuing a proclamation that recognizes April 22, as Earth Day.
In the proclamation Pinner explained that April 22, 1970, marked the first Earth Day, which was a call to action for every citizen, family and public official to tackle a shared challenge and adopt laws on clean air and water.
“Earth Day broadens the base of support for environmental programs and rekindles public commitment around the world through a broad range or events and activities,” said Pinner. “More than a billion people participate in Earth Day each year and the City of Levelland and Keep Levelland Beautiful will host Levelland Earth Day events and volunteer opportunities year-round and encourage residents, businesses, and institutions to commit to a sustainable community.”
Following the proclamation, the council approved multiple resolution pertaining to the Texas Community Development Block Grant Program.
The first resolution brought to the group was Resolution 2023-13, which authorizes the submission of a TCDBG program application for the Main Street Revitalization Program Fund.
In July of 2022, the field rep for the Texas Department of Agriculture, contacted the city to share an opportunity to apply for the 2023 TCDBG grant. As a Main Street city, Levelland is eligible to be considered in a smaller pool of applicant pursuant to the design of the grant funding process.
The objective for the Downtown Revitalization Program is to provide infrastructure improvements to address the conditions that contribute to the deterioration in an area designated as slum or blighted in the applicant community’s downtown or main street area.
City Manager Brandon Anderson added that there are many areas in the designated Main Street District that would benefit from sizable funds that could be used to address the need for additional ADA infrastructure, sidewalk improvements and increase safety for residents and visitors.
On behalf of the City of Levelland, the South Plains Association of Government acted as grant consultants and writers to navigate the process. In the past, SPAG has had success with grants on behalf of Levelland.
The council moved forward with unanimous approval of Resolution 2023-13, and moved into discussion of Resolution 2023-14.
The next resolution designated signatories for matters pertaining to the TCDBG Program. This step allows the city to move forward with the document submission needed to file the grant by July, which is the deadline. The council also approved Resolution 2023-14 with a unanimous vote.
Resolution 2023-15 was brought to the groups attention as action was needed to designate areas of downtown as slum and blighted. The designation is one of the requirements for the submission of a TCDBG application for the Main Street Revitalization Program Fund. The council unanimously approved the resolution.
Wrapping up the TCDBG business was Resolution 2023-16, an amendment to the TCDBG CL 7220261.
A SPAG representative explained that in 2018, the council authorized staff to apply for a Community Development Block Grant project. The project consisted of replacing a portion of the water line on 8th Street, as well as lining older brick and mortar manholes in the area.
Council selected Parkhill to provide engineering services and SPAG to assist with preparing documents for the grant application. In February of 2021, the city received and executed the grant award to move forward with the project and in February of 2022, the city awarded the construction portion of the project to Rinks Lease Service in the amount of $328,435.
In the grant closing process, TDA noticed a slight discrepancy. According to TDA, their construction contract award and the performance statement numbers did not match which is a necessity in the grant paperwork.
The resolution will amend the performance statement to match the actual feet of water line replaced. It was explained that when the contract was awarded to Rinks Lease Service, it included less footage in the water line replacement and the performance statement was not updated to the awarded construction contract numbers. The council moved forward with unanimously approving the resolution.
Moving on in the agenda, the group discussed Ordinance 1071, regulating Mobile Food Service Vendors also referred to as the Food Truck Ordinance.
During the March 20 council meeting, the council voted to send the ordinance back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for revisions.
Now back from the commission, the council moved forward with discussing the revisions. City Attorney Made Wade also spoke to council about some added language and also the possibility alternative language in Sec. 4.1506 of operating in a residential district.
Section (b) states a mobile food vendor must meet all conditions of and obtain a Mobile Food Vending Permit as required by this article to operate in a residential district. Any fee required for operating in a residential district for a private event is in addition to any fee paid for an annual amount.
The alternative language used states, the city council may establish a separate permit fee for operating in a residential district for a private event. Any such fee established may be in addition to any fee paid for an annual permit as determined by the council.
After discussion with council members, it was determined that the alternative language was more appealing due to its simplicity and clear outline. The council unanimously approved the ordinance with the alternative language and had the first reading of the ordinance.
Director of Finance Sarah Osburn provided her quarterly investment report, explaining that interest rates continue to improve across banks and investment pools. She added that the pools are able to adapt to the changing market more quickly, offering significantly better rates at the current time.
The city was earning 4.17 percent on depository demand monies at the end of the quarter. Bond proceeds for the wastewater treatment plant were moved to the LOGIC investment pool and are no longer reflected in the pooled cash balance. Osburn added that the interest earned this quarter was $411,012.57, which is an increase of $260,317.95 from the previous quarter.
Rounding out the meeting, the council discussed possible action for Ordinance No. 1073, amending Ordinance No. 1035 and Ordinance No. 1040 regulating game rooms and amusement redemption machines or extending the moratorium on issuing permits to operate a game room and amusement redemption machine.
With the game room raids that happened in November involving illegal activity at most game rooms, the city felt it important to analyze the current ordinance regulating game rooms and bring suggestions and changes to the council prior to issuing any licenses or permits inside the city limits of Levelland. Currently, all licenses and permits have been revoked and notification letters have been sent and posted. The council unanimously moved forward with extending the moratorium on issuing permits to operate a game room and amusement redemption machine.